Tour of the Solar System Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is the Solar System Census?
Includes 1 mid-sized main sequence star (The Sun), 8 planets, 5 dwarf planets, 200+ moons. Earth= 1 , Mars =2, Jupiter = 79, Saturn = 82, Uranus = 27, Neptune=14, Pluto = 5, +1 mill asteroids, 3701+ comets
What is A Star?
A large glowing ball of gas that generates heat and light through nuclear fusion
What is nuclear fusion?
It is the process that takes place within the center of the star, a place so hot that it is fusing atoms together. IT takes hydrogen, fusing them together, creating new elements and releasing heat
What is the temperature of the Sun, Spin Rate, Diameter?
Surface Temp: 5800 Kelvin, or 5526 Degrees Celsius
Core Temp: 15 million Kelvin
Spin Rate: 1 rotation every 25 Earth Days
Diameter: 1,392,700 KM (109x the Earth)
What is the Solar Cycle?
A Cycle that the sun goes through every 11 years. Is determined by the number of sunspots available on the surface.
What are the Rocky Planets?
Mercury, Venus, Earth Mars
What are the Gas planets?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Mercury Properties?
Moons: 0
Atmosphere:
-Almost no atmosphere
- Mercury has a small trace of gas, but it doesn’t stick around very long because it is blown away by the Sun.
- Therefore not the very stable atmosphere
- Most prefer to call it an exosphere
- Surface Temperature: between -180 C and 430 C
- Day: 58.7 Earth Days
-Year: 88 Earth Days
Venus Properties?
- Moons: 0
- Atmosphere: Very thick, made up mainly of CO2, 92 times thicker than Earth’s atmosphere.
- Surface Temperature: Hottest planet in the solar system, due to CO2 heat retention. 460 degrees C or hotter
- Day: 116 Earth Days Backwards
- Year: 224.65 Earth Days
Earth Properties?
- Moon:1
- Atmosphere: 70% Nitrogen
- Surface Temp: between -89.2 C and 54.4 C
- Day: 24 Hrs
- Year: 365.25 Days
Mars Properties?
- Moons: 2
- Atmosphere: 100x thinner than Earth’s
- Surface Temperature: between -140 C and 30 C
- Day:24.63 hours
- Year: 687 Earth Days
Jupiter Properties?
-Moons: 79
Galilean Moons: Most Volcanically Active in the S.S
Europa: contains more water than earth. Surface is an ice sheet covering an ocean.
Callisto: Larger than our moon
Ganymede: Largest moon in the SS, contains water
- Day; ~ 10 Earth hours
- Year: ~ 12 Earth years
- Has rings
Saturn Properties?
-Moons: 82
Enceladus: Ice moon w water underneath. Geysers shooting water into space, create a thin ring around Saturn.
-Titan: Saturn’s largest moon; the only moon w an atmosphere, mainly made of nitrogen; has lakes of methane and ethane. Only other bodies in the solar system that has liquids on its surface.
- Atmosphere: 75% hydrogen, 25% helium (w/ traces of other substances such as methane + water ice)
- Surface Temp: -173 C < 113 C
- Day: 10.5 Earth hours
- Year: 29 Earth years
Presence of Rings: yes, it has its own ring system
The rings are made up of water ice, ranging in size from sand grains, to the size of a house
There are seven main ring structures that are labeled in order of their discovery
Uranus Properties:
-Moons: 27
Day: 17 Earth hours
Year: 84 Earth years
Presence of Rings: yes, it has its own ring system
Neptune Properties?
-Moons: 14
Triton: a retrograde moon, possibly from collision
Orbits Neptune in the opposite direction of other moons
Day: 14 Earth hours
Year: 164 Earth years
Presence of Rings: yes, it has its own ring system
Pluto Properties?
One orbit around the sun: 248 years
Orbit is not completely plane with the rest of the orbits in the solar system
Pluto has 5 moons, a notable one being Charon
Atmosphere: Thin atmosphere made of carbon monoxide, methane, in distinct layers
Movement of ice sheets detected
Polygonal shapes are evidence of convection occurring
What is the difference between a sidereal day and a synodic (solar) day?
Sidereal: the time required for one period to repeat in relation to a distant star (Earth spinning once on its own axis) 23 HRs 56 Mins
Synodic: the time required for one period to repeat in relation to a solar body (Earth spinning to face the sun again) 24 HRs
Why does Venus appear to have phases?
This is because Venus is between Earth and sun, when it goes around the sun, it has phases like the moon.
Asteroid Belt Properties?
- a circular band of objects that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter (in between the rocky planets and gas planets)
- Composed of approximately 1,000,000 irregularly shaped objects (much smaller than planets)
Individual objects are referred to as:
Asteroids, Minor planets, Dwarf planets
Sometimes called the main asteroid belt to distinguish it from other groups of asteroid (Ex: Trojans, Greeks, Apollos)
Asteroids are composed mainly of rocky material. Some have iron ices
Some asteroids are large and compact, others are small are resemble loosely packed “rubble piles”
The largest object in the asteroid belt is the dwarf planet Ceres
The total mass of the entire asteroid belt is less than that of Earth’s Moon
Be able to describe some moons in the outer solar system, and why they are so unique.
Jupiter: IO(largest volcanic), Callisto(2nd largest for Jupiter and 3rd largest for solar system), Europa(most water), Ganymede(largest moon, also has water, larger than earth’s moon)
Saturn: Enceladus(water geyser- creating ring), Titan (largest for Saturn, most dense atmosphere. Second body with water on surface)
Neptune: Triton(retrograde motion due to collision)
Kuiper Belt Properties?
Kuiper Belt: A circular band of objects that exists beyond Neptune’s orbit. These are ice water, comet-like bodies. PLUTO and ERIS are the biggest.
The largest objects are:
Pluto (dwarf planet) and its Moons
Eris (dwarf planet)
Haumea (dwarf planet)
Makemake (dwarf planet)
What is an astronomical unit (AU)?
1 astronomical unit (AU): the average distance between the Earth and the Sun
What is the order of the planets, starting from the center of the solar system, and what are their distances in AU?
Mercury: 0.39 au Venus: 0.72 au Earth: 1.00 au Mars: 1.52 au Jupiter: 5.20 au Saturn: 9.58 au Uranus: 19.20 au Neptune: 30.05 au
What is the IAU definition of a planet? Be able to explain why Pluto is not considered a planet.
IAU Planet Criteria:
- Criteria #1: must orbit a star (this excludes the moon)
- Criteria #2: must be spherical (this excludes most asteroids and comets)(have to be big enough so that have enough gravity to pull it in a spherical shape)
- Criteria #3: must have cleared the debris in its orbit all the way around (excludes all asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects, including Pluto)
Pluto cannot be a planet, because it has not met criteria #3
